


My Chemical Romance

by Satine02



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Coming of Age, Dyslexia, M/M, Secrets, wesper
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-07-26 12:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20025796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satine02/pseuds/Satine02
Summary: Wylan enjoys chemistry. It's a place where he does not have to worry about anyone finding out his secret, until he gets a new lab partner.





	1. We got Chemistry

Wylan walked into the classroom and sat down at one of the empty benches at the back of the room. Chemistry always seemed to calm him, for once he could understand everything and, as an added bonus they were an odd amount of students in the class so, unless someone was sick, he got to work alone. That also included writing the lab reports by himself, which meant he could sit in his room with his dictation software until he was finished. 

“Good afternoon, students!” the teacher said, cheerful as always. Wylan had always liked Ms. Johnson and she seemed to like him. Wylan’s interest in the subject seemed to greatly please her and she always sought him out during their experiments to provide him with some extra tips.

Ms. Johnson was followed into the room by a tall, dark-skinned and incredibly attractive boy that Wylan hadn’t seen before and who definitely wasn't in his class. He gave one or two high fives and a few handshakes to other students on his way in before walking to the teacher’s desk. Thinking the student was going to pose a simple question before the start of their class, Wylan opened his phone, put in his headphones and listened to his text-to-speech app read the instructions for the day’s experiment once more. Looking down at his notebook he clarified some of the drawings he’d made the previous evening and tried to memorise parts of the text.

Something slamming down onto his table caught his attention and he quickly pulled out his headphones and placed his text-book over his notes to cover the sketches. Wylan looked over to his left and saw the tall boy sit down in the seat next to him. He slouched in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest before blowing a stray hair out of his face, showing such a display of utter disregard for everything in the classroom that Wylan didn’t dare approach him. He glanced around the room, trying to understand why the boy was sitting next to him, there was a perfectly fine, perfectly empty desk on the opposite side of the classroom, _ why couldn’t he have sat there? _

When his eyes finished their search around the room and returned to the boy looking for an explanation, he was met by grey, curious eyes. Everything about him was oozing confidence and in the grey, there was a small gleam of amusement as the dark-haired boy examined Wylan. Uncomfortable with the amount of attention he was getting under the boy's gaze, Wylan quickly flashed his eyes down to his notes, which were still covered by his book.

That settled it for Wylan, there was no God. It wasn’t bad enough that he would have to work together with someone, and risk his secret being found out, that someone also had to end up being _ very _handsome.

“I hope you have all already read the document containing today’s instructions,” Ms. Johnson addressed the class and Wylan dared a glance at the other boy who’s gaze now had turned to the teacher. Wylan let himself take a closer look at him, and his eyes were unintentionally drawn to his lips. _ Who had lips that perfect? _ “If not, please do so now and then proceed to carry out the experiment. As usual, you will all be working together with your bench partner.”

His lab partner let out a sigh when Ms. Johnson finished talking which broke Wylan out of the spell he was under. _ Just great_, thought Wylan, _ he hates me already _. The boy shifted in his seat and sat up a bit straighter before turning to face Wylan who braced himself for the mediocre excuse about why the boy couldn’t work with him that always followed.

“I’m Jesper,” the boy, who was now almost sitting as straight as a normal person, said with a big smile on his face. He reached out a hand to Wylan who tentatively took it, shocked by the casual presentation.

Wylan cleared his throat before presenting himself, afraid his voice would crack and betray him, and the boy shook his hand.

“So, what are these instructions? I think she forgot to share them with me.” He nodded towards the teacher. Wylan glanced down at the notes that explained the experiment to him, he couldn’t show that to Jesper, then he would ask why there wasn’t any text on it. Quickly, Wylan reached for his computer, opened the tab with the shared document and passed it on to Jesper.

“We’re studying the alkali metals,” Wylan explained, “From what I’ve understood we’re supposed to be researching the properties of Sodium.”

“Sodium,” Jesper looked upwards, seemingly trying to remember something. “It’s somewhere over there, right?” Wylan let his eyes follow the finger Jesper pointed slightly to the right of himself until they landed on the blank whiteboard. He questioningly looked back at the boy who started laughing when he saw Wylans confusion. “On the periodic table, of course! You’re funny.”

Wylan looked down, embarrassed, he could feel his cheeks heat, _ of course he meant the periodic table_. The other boy probably thought he was a fool.

“So what do we need?” Jesper looked at Wylan’s laptop while Wylan sneaked glanced at his notes. As they set up the experiment Wylan explained what they were supposed to be researching.

“Can we start the experiment now?” Jesper asked restlessly once everything was in place.

“We need to come up with an hypothesis first,” was Wylan’s response.

“Okay,” Jesper sighed, “I have no idea. You write it.”

Wylan stiffened as he realised his mistake. His mind was starting to panic as Wylan tried to come up with an excuse. He looked around their desk to where his computer was sitting, in front of Jesper. If he started talking to his computer he would _ really _ look like a fool.

“Um,” he stalled, desperate to buy himself a few more seconds, “we’re supposed to come up with it together.” His voice was shaky as he slowly built up his excuse. Trying to steal some of Jespers confidence, whilst desperately not meeting his, probably, very questioning stare, Wylan continued, “The computer’s in front of you so,” _ where was he going with this? _ “Why don’t you write whilst I dictate?”

“Fine.” Jesper sounded exasperated. “But I am _ only _ doing this because I can’t afford to fail this class and I don’t trust you not to rat me out to the teacher.”

Wylan was about to object to the accusation before realising he wouldn’t come up with another excuse.

“Go on then, genius,” Jesper had a slight grin on his face when he looked at Wylan, causing him to lose his focus. “Dictate.”

Snapping back to reality, Wylan explained the properties of Sodium and its reactability to Jesper who let his long fingers type away at the keyboard at record speed. It left Wylan baffled, and a little jealous.

“What do you think will happen when we put it in the water then?” Jesper pressed on.

“I don’t want to ruin the experiment for you,” Wylan complained. "You haven't seen it happen before."

“You just want to alter the hypothesis after you have the results to look smart, don't you?” A smirk spread on the boy’s lips, “I’m impressed, I didn’t expect you to want to cheat.”

“I don’t!”

“Prove it,” Jespers expression was challenging. He took up his pen and handed it to Wylan. Faintly, their hands touched which caused Wylan to suck in a breath. Jesper’s hand continued to travel to Wylan’s notebook as he could feel the panic rising again, but thankfully Jesper’s eyes stayed fixed on Wylan’s and the doodles escaped his notice. His finger tapped the page, “write it down here and I’ll double-check it later.”

Wylan took another breath before breaking the boy’s stare. Looking down at the doodle covered page he ripped off a corner before setting his pen to work. When he finished, he flipped the paper over and turned back to Jesper.

“Now, can we start the experiment?” Jesper asked somehow managing to sound even more impatient than before.

-X-

“Okay, be careful Jesper.” Wylan was looking worriedly at the boy next to him. Everything was set up and Jesper was supposed to add the Sodium. “Remember, only add a little bit of Sodium and don’t drop it in, just carefully lay it in the Erlenmeyer flask.”

“The _ what _?” Amused, grey eyes met Wylan’s again.

He pointed to the flask on the table, “that.”

“Funny,” Jesper muttered under his breath before going back to the Sodium, concentrating fully on his task. The expression caused the skin around his eyes to crinkle as he bit his lower lip. Wylan admired the boy’s face, unable and unwilling to stop himself. _ Who still looked that good in a lab coat and safety goggles? _

He was ripped out of his reverie by a large bang. The class erupted in screams and chaos, but Wylan couldn’t see anything through the smoke that had formed around him. A hand grabbed his arm and led him forward.

His thigh hit something sharp and he let out a cry of complaint. The hand dragging him away didn’t falter until they were outside of the classroom. Sirens were blaring throughout the building and everyone was making their way outside, which was where the hand was leading him, too. As he slowly came to his senses again, he removed the goggles from his head and looked around. Jesper’s hand was clenched around his own, leading him away from the lab. He stared down at their hands, Jesper’s long fingers making his own look small, as they walked out into the light of the outside. Once they were away from the doors that were crowded by students exiting the building, Jesper stopped and turned to Wylan.

“Are you okay?” his eyes were searching Wylan’s face. As the tall boy looked down on him Wylan could feel his heart speed up. Jesper’s hand dropped to his side to pull up the sleeves of his yellow shirt before fiddling with his suspenders, his lab coat and goggles were nowhere to be seen. Wylan’s hand felt empty so he gripped his goggles in it to make up for what was lacking. “Wylan?” worry was creeping into the other boy’s voice.

“I’m… I’m fine.”

“Oh thank God.” The smile returned to the boy’s face, albeit tentatively, only to be replaced by worry, the confident boy from before seemingly lost without a trace. “Oh shit, Ms. Johnson is going to kill me! Why didn’t you warn me?”

“I’m sorry?” Wylan tried, attempting to recall what that warning would have been about. “What happened?”

“Well _ someone_,” Jesper said pointedly, “didn’t tell me I was adding too much Sodium!”

Had he been_that _lost in Jesper?

“I’m sorry,” he started. He opened his mouth again to say something more, but closed it and stared down at the ground instead, “I’m sorry.”

“Whatever,” Jesper’s air of confidence was back again, but he spoke the words without malice “maybe now she won’t want me to come back for another class.” He looked over Wylan’s shoulder. “Looks like I’ll find out soon, goodbye genius.”

“I’m sorry,” Wylan repeated as Jesper was about to walk away

“I don’t much like chemistry anyway.” Jesper shrugged before walking away to Ms. Johnson confidently, seeming not to have a care in the world.

_ Oh God_, Wylan thought as the severity of the situation hit him, _ my father is going to kill me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the first chapter of I don't know how many. I've got some stuff planned and I hope all of you will enjoy some Wesper angst.


	2. Harpsichord and Lab Report

A string quartet filled Wylan’s ears when Siouxie started playing as he was finishing the day’s assignment. After answering the last question he flipped through his math book in search of something else to put his mind to, consciously ignoring the English essay he was supposed to write.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself a few seconds to drown in the staccato elements that were so brilliantly combined with the harpsichord. Everything was a beautiful salute to the typical notes of the classical era. Fingers gently tapping along to the rhythm, Wylan found himself lost in the composition and for once he felt free. _ The beautiful effect of music _, he thought to himself just as the crescendo was approaching. The notes were forming in his head as they were being played, jumping back and forth and then - 

Then, there was a sharp _ bling _ sounding from his headphones instead of the percussion element he had been anticipating. Sighing, he paused the music and clicked on the notification that had popped up. It was an email, which he opened and listened to.

“[ jefah847@kdh.com ](mailto:jefah847@kdh.com) has invited you to edit the following document: Lab Report,” a monotone voice let him know.

Curiously, he clicked the text underlined in blue and the document in question opened in a new tab. Words were quickly filling up the almost blank page and when the typing stopped, Wylan highlighted the section and let the monotone voice continue. “Hey, so apparently I have to write the lab report after all. Do you wanna meet in the library?”

Questions were running through Wylan’s head along with worry, but maybe he could make it through one lab report without exposing himself. Afraid of doing so now in the middle of the library, he opted for a simple thumbs up and started his music again before picking his chemistry book up from the bottom of his bag, where he’d thought it would’ve stayed until he got home. Wylan also brought out his notebook and pencil before starting to go over the notes made in both books.

He sat like that for a while until the opening of the library doors caught his attention. A handsome, black-haired boy walked in and Wylan couldn’t help but stare for a second. Covering his drawings, and pulling out a headphone he waved slightly to get the attention of the boy’s gaze which was searching the room. The moment those eyes landed on Wylan a bright smile formed on Jesper’s face and Wylan temporarily lost his focus. He let his hand drop to the table, which he kept his eyes upon for the next couple of seconds in an attempt to hide the embarrassing reddening of his cheeks.

It didn’t take long for Wylan to clean his table enough to make room for the other boy who was still saunteering over to him by the time he finished. Afraid of embarrassing himself by staring at Jesper, he managed to keep his eyes off of him by pretending to look through his chemistry book.

“Hi.” A backpack dropped down next to Wylan’s seat before a boy sat down in the chair next to him.

Wylan raised his eyes from his text book. “_ Hi _.” It was barely a whisper and he cleared his throat to remedy it, “hi.”

Jesper looked at him funnily before flashing a brilliant smile. “Hi.” Wylan swallowed as his eyes were dragged to those lips. “Lab report, right?”

“Yes.” He took a deep breath, _ chemistry _ , he reminded himself, _ focus _. “What did Ms. Johnson say?”

The tall boy let out a sigh. “Well,” a deep breath. “She wasn’t happy about it. Apparently, an explosion in the lab isn’t the cheapest thing for the school,” he chuckled low, “so she asked what had happened.” Jesper’s eyes shifted to Wylan who was terrified, _ how much would she tell his father? Would he have to pay for the damage and with what money? _

He barely dared ask the question, but he had to know what to prepare himself for. “And what did you say?”

“I told her it was all my fault.” Relief flooded over Wylan as he thought that maybe he wouldn’t have to go home to face a livid man_ . _ “And by the look on your face, I’m guessing it was the right thing. Not used to being bad, _ rich boy _?”

Ignoring his mocking question he looked down at the table. “You didn’t have to do that, you know. I can take responsibility for myself.”

“Anyway,” Jesper tapped a pencil against the table, “I thought she would’ve gotten me expelled or whatever right then and there, but instead she told me that if I wrote a lab report worth an A together with my _ lab partner _,” he nudged Wylan with his shoulder, “she would let me stay in the class.”

Wylan nodded and Jesper leaned in closer to him, making his breath hitch.

“I really, _ really _ need this,” he pleaded in a low whisper and just as Wylan was about to attempt to comfort him with his almost spotless track record in Chemistry, Jesper smirked. Then, suddenly, his knuckles brushed against Wylan’s fingers, making him question just what he’d meant by _ this _.

Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, he looked Jesper in the eye, attempting to ignore how close they were now that Wylan had turned his head towards the other boy, and smiled. “Let’s get to it then.”

Wylan reached for his computer and Jesper retreated. He explained the basic structure of a lab report and opened up as well as shared one of his old ones with Jesper to give them something to work off of. To his surprise, the boy opened it on his phone and read through it carefully. Now all that was left to do was to convince Jesper to be the one doing the typing.

“Do you have your computer with you?” Maybe, that could be a good segway into asking Jesper to type it.

“Umm…” Jesper searched his backpack messily, throwing crumpled papers along with broken pencils onto the table. “No.”

_ What now?, _ Wylan’s mind wondered. _ Stay calm _ , he shot back. Taking a second to collect his thoughts, he met Jesper’s gaze which was silently asking what to do next. “Well, why don’t you just use mine? I mean, you are _ much _ quicker at typing than I am.” He offered Jesper his computer with a smile which he hoped looked as confident as he was attempting to be. 

The confidence vanished in an instant though when he saw yet another smirk form on Jesper’s lips. “Fascinated by my finger speed, huh?” It was spoken with such innuendo that Wylan couldn’t help but blush and look away. Jesper reached for the computer that was being offered to him and placed his hand on top of Wylan’s. Their fingers were touching again and Wylan could hear his heart beat harder in his ears. Just as he was about to meet the boy’s gaze, his hand felt cold again and Jesper had placed the computer in front of himself and was looking at their document.

“I hate chemistry,” he muttered at the screen.

Knowing the struggle way to well, Wylan wanted to attempt to cheer him up. Putting on his most enthusiastic smile, he nudged Jesper with his elbow and said encouragingly, “But that’s why you have me.”

Jesper sprawled out more in his chair and again, his fingers brushed Wylan’s. Then his eyes looked slyly at him, before yet another grin was present on his face. When he spoke Wylan flushed again, “Is that why?”

-X-

Jesper yawned. They had been at it for a couple of hours and by now both were exhausted.

Glancing at his watch, Wylan noticed the time. “We can continue later.”

“Can we?” Jesper seemed almost giddy with excitement.

“Well yeah, I mean it isn’t due until Sunday night.”

“What?” His jaw dropped open and Wylan giggled. “I thought we had to finish this today! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

“I thought it’d be better to get it done than to procrastinate,” Wylan answered almost truthfully, he had really been enjoying Jesper’s company as well. “But now I guess I can finish studying for my other subjects.” _ Like that English essay _, his mind reminded him.

“Wait,” Jesper look at him, confused. “You’re telling me you’re going to stay in this stale, quiet library and study _ more _?”

Unsure of what to do, Wylan went for honesty and nodded. “That was the plan.”

“Oh hell no.” Jesper closed Wylan’s computer and rose from his chair. He grabbed his own backpack along with the computer under his arm before wrapping a hand around Wylan’s wrist and dragging him up as well. “Come on.” The tall boy didn’t even wait for an answer before starting to drag Wylan out of the library.

“Wait,” a surprised Wylan complained and the boy turned his head to hear him out. “I can’t just leave my stuff.”

“I have your computer,” Jesper’s other arm waved it around in a display. “No one’s going to steal your textbooks.”

“They’re expensive,” Wylan shot back, but the taller boy ignored him and kept yanking him out of the room.

After being dragged a bit down the hall, Jesper relented in his tempo but not in the grip on Wylan’s arm.

“Behold,” his free arm made a showcasing sign to what looked like a black box. “The school’s treasury.”

Confused, Wylan walked up to the box until he could see what it contained. _ A vending machine? They had one of those? _

“Nah ah,” Jesper wiggled a finger at him reprimandingly before dragging him away from the window at the front of the machine, preventing his view of the content. “I want a letter and a number,” he said smiling.

Wylan couldn’t even attempt to hide his confusion, “What?”

The boy let out an exasperated sigh. “I said, a letter and a number.”

“I heard you,” Wylan said slightly annoyed, “But why?”

“Will you just do it?”

“Fine.” He scanned his mind for an answer. “A… 1.”

Jesper was unimpressed. “Seriously? A1?”

Choosing to stick with his choice he nodded and let resolute seep into his voice. “Yes, seriously.”

The tall boy turned around to the machine and put in the numbers along with a card. Sighing, he bent down to pick up whatever the machine had spit out. Letting one of his long, slender arms extend towards Wylan, he bent down in a mock bow. “One KitKat for you, Master Wylan. I hope it is to your liking.”

Snickering, he accepted the gift and, trying to reciprocate Jesper’s humour, said “Thank you, Alfred.”

Jesper dropped his faked composure and stared incredulously at Wylan. “You know Batman?” he asked in wonder.

“Of course I know Batman!” He opened his KitKat, “Who do you think I am?”

“Well,” Jesper started, “I usually do not expect people who know the actual name of science flasks to make references to comic characters.”

“They’re called Erlenmeyer flasks.” Wylan smiled at the handsome boy in front of him, “And from me, I guess you should learn to expect the unexpected.” He broke the KitKat in half and offered one to Jesper who took it. “Goodbye Jesper, thanks for the provision.” Wylan raised his chocolate bar at the other boy before starting to walk back to the library. A few steps away, he looked over his shoulder again at the boy who smiled up at him from his phone as soon as he spoke. “And if my books are stolen, I’m blaming you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't think the last chapter would be met so positively so thank you everyone! I hope you like the second chapter as well, if anyone is interested I'm looking for a proof-reader just btw.


	3. The Fe

Chemistry was the last lesson of the week according to his new schedule, and Jesper hated it. Apparently, the universe didn’t think that drowsing through two years of chemistry was enough, now he had to do it a third year during a Friday afternoon when all of his friends were probably having waffles down at _ The Iron _.

Dragging his feet into the classroom, Jesper walked over to the bench where he’d sat on Tuesday. He took the seat closest to the window, maybe he could at least take a nap during the lecture. After a few minutes, Ms. Johnson entered the room with the loud _ clicks _ of her heels and her usual cheery greeting. _ Way too happy to be here on a Friday _, Jesper thought to himself and glowered some more. He grew even more unhappy when he glanced around the room and found that his lab partner was nowhere to be seen, he would need some kind of amusement and annoying Wylan seemed to be growing on him.

Jesper rested his head on the table and closed his eyes, ready to sleep through the lesson, consequences be damned, when the classroom doors burst open and a flustered boy spewing apologies to the teacher entered. Maybe he wouldn’t be all too bored after all.

The teacher smiled at Wylan and told him something Jesper couldn’t quite catch. Then the boy left the teacher’s desk and started heading for Jesper who waved a little to Wylan, but got no response as he was focused on rooting through his backpack in search of his chemistry books. Wylan sat down in the empty chair next to Jesper, still rooting through his bag with a headphone plugged in.

Feeling a bit wicked, Jesper leaned in closer to Wylan’s curls. “Hi.” The boy jumped and let out a quiet shriek and Jesper burst out laughing but shut up when blue eyes were glowering at him. Instead, he leaned in closer to the boy again, who in turn tensed, and put his finger on Wylan’s chemistry book. “Did your books get stolen?”

Wylan looked down at them and sighed. “No,” he said reluctantly and looked up at Jesper.

“Good, I would hate for you to have to buy new ones, _ rich boy _.” A smirk played on Jesper’s lips as he spoke the words. 

The fairer boy’s cheeks flushed slightly and his mouth tried to form a retort. “I.. uh-”

“Now that we’re all here, let’s get started,” Ms. Johnson rudely interrupted the response that Jesper would have loved to hear. “Since your lab reports are due on Sunday, I thought I would let you take today’s lesson to write them, and then you can spend your weekend doing something fun.”

“Who writes lab reports during the weekend?” Jesper whispered to Wylan who looked at him like he was an alien. An alien who was also disrespecting the teacher. “Sorry,” he muttered and leaned back in his seat. Why couldn’t he have had this lesson with Kaz? Then he’d have had someone to talk to who didn’t care about all of the dumb rules.

“Now get working!” 

Jesper picked up his backpack and took out his computer, which he had made sure to bring in case Wylan asked him for it again. Sighing, he opened it up and clicked on their shared document.

A shoulder nudged him and he looked over to see a bright smile. “Lighten up! We’re almost done.”

The effort was wasted on him and Jesper only scowled further. It seemed Wylan wasn’t willing to give up that easily though. “Come on,” he nudged him again, “Otherwise you’ll actually have to spend the weekend doing it with me.”

Jesper couldn’t help himself, the boy made it far too easy. “Doing what exactly?”

Wylan’s cheeks flushed yet again, but he set his jaw and replied adamantly, “Chemistry,” before opening his own computer.

Jesper rolled his eyes. “No one can keep their hands off of me for an _ entire _ weekend.”

“Can we write this report now?” Wylan’s voice sounded strangled and his face resembled a tomato so Jesper decided to let him off the hook. For now.

Quickly skimming through their document to remember where they left off, he turned to Wylan for help. “So, if I remember correctly, you said that our conclusion was that the Sodium gets spikey when it’s dropped in water and then something about alkali?”

“Well, sort of, the spikes protrude into the water and then electrons from the spikes enter the water which quickly creates positively charged alkali ions that repel and cause Coulomb-explosions and that is what leads to the big explosion.”

“Uhuh,” Jesper nodded, not understanding half of what Wylan had said.

“I’ll show you,” Wylan said, “take up your Chemistry book and go to the chapter about Sodium.”

“I’ve lost it,” he reached for Wylan’s, “I’ll just take yours.”

As he flipped open the book, Wylan’s hand shot out to take it back. “No!” 

Jesper turned away from the fair-haired boy and kept flipping to the right page, “Do you want me to learn or not?” He laughed slightly, “I will do my very best not to ruin it.”

At the top of the page, it said “Alkali metals” and right below that “Sodium”. He looked at the page, a little surprised at all of the drawings that covered it. Flipping forward a few pages, Jesper noticed that the drawings filled most of the book. “Wow, _ rich boy _ , I didn’t know you could be _ bad _.” 

Wylan got ahold of the book and closed it after he’d jerked it out of Jesper’s hands, a scowl disrupting his features. To Jesper’s dismay, the boy didn’t flush or send a retort back his way, he simply kept staring down at the desk.

“Hey,” Jesper tried, “I was just teasing. You know that right?”

The boy didn’t move and Jesper felt a tinge of guilt form in his chest. “Wylan,” he lightly placed a hand on his shoulder. “I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you’re afraid of. I mean, come on, I do so much worse than doodles every day.” Ruddy curls fell forward and into Wylan’s eyes who lifted a hand to place them behind his ear. Jesper let his hand fall from Wylan’s shoulder to his wrist. “Hey,” he tried again and this time the boy’s attention shifted to him. Those blue eyes staring into his own, “I’ll make it up to you.”

The blue eyes looked questioningly at him. “How?”

“I’ll finish this report quickly, I mean you did just tell me how, and then,” Jesper paused for dramatic effect. “I’ll get you waffles. No more studying for you today.”

Jesper rushed to finish the document and wrote the last paragraph before handing it into Ms. Johnson who gave them permission to leave. Both boys started packing up their stuff, Jesper much more excitedly than Wylan, feeling anxious to make the shorter boy feel better. As he waited for Wylan to be ready he fiddled with his shirt sleeves as he rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“Can’t you ever just stand still?” Wylan looked up at him, backpack slung over his shoulder.

“Not when we’re having waffles.” Jesper grabbed Wylan’s wrist and practically dragged him out of the classroom. “Hurry up, Van Eck, do you want me to starve?”

They quickly made their way out of the school and Jesper started walking in the direction of _ The Iron _ when Wylan stopped. “Wait,” Jesper turned around impatiently, “I can’t just leave my car.”

“You have a-” he started, “Of course you do, _ rich boy _.”

Wylan sighed and headed for the parking lot. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

Jesper followed him and looked around trying to figure out which car might be Wylan’s. “It’s true, isn’t it. Your dad is Jan Van Eck, right?”

“Yes, but... ” To Jesper’s surprise, Wylan didn’t stop by the grey BMW that they passed, but instead by a fairly old Nissan.

Jesper got in the passenger seat before responding. “Would you rather I call you merchling?”

“Well, no.” Wylan grabbed the stick shift and again Jesper was surprised that the son of Van Eck, the man made of money, didn’t own an automatic, and drove them out of the parking lot.

“Then it’s settled. Let’s go get waffles, _ merchling _.”

A groan escaped Wylan’s lips.

The drive to _ The Iron _was only a few minutes long and Jesper spent it guiding Wylan through the streets. They found a parking space close to the cafe and walked the rest of the way. Well inside, Jesper casually walked over to Joe at the bar.

“Look who it is,” the short man behind the disk said, “You missed your friends earlier.”

With a sigh, Jesper responded. “I know. My teacher’s got me retaking chemistry, apparently it’s like an important science or something.”

A beep sounded from behind him and Joe turned around to take a waffle out of an iron, laughing at Jesper. “So who’s our new guest?”

Jesper looked around him and found Wylan still by the entrance door. He waved him over and Wylan tentatively approached. Once he was within reach, Jesper slung an arm across his shoulders and pushed him in front of himself. “This, is Wylan.”

“Hi.” The merchling waved awkwardly at Joe who’s eyes moved to Jesper’s questioningly, attempting to asses the situation.

“I may have forced him to sit through chemistry next to me so I thought I’d make it up to him.” He turned back to Wylan. “Now, _ merchling _,” he tried out the new nickname, it really was growing on him, “close your eyes and give me a number.”

Wylan looked at him incredulously, “Again?”

“Yes.”

Ignoring Jesper’s demand, and Jesper altogether, Wylan turned to Joe. “I’ll have the Maple Mania please.”

Pouting, Jesper placed his order of _ the usual _ and moved to one of the empty tables. Wylan was quick to follow. “Come on,” the shorter boy complained to him, “This was supposed to make _ me _ feel better, remember?”

“Fine, _ merchling _,” Jesper sprawled out in his chair, “Come sit down then so we can eat.”

Wylan did and a few seconds later Joe gave Jesper his hot chocolate and Wylan eyed it greedily.

“Excuse me, is it possible to get one of those?” he asked.

“Coming right up.” Joe left the cup and headed back to the counter.

Jesper grabbed his cup and was just about to take a sip when he noticed that the other boy hadn’t stop eyeing his drink. “Take it.” Jesper placed the cup in front of Wylan who smiled.

“Are you sure?” he asked uncertainly, “I can wait.”

“Just take it, you seem more eager than me.”

Wylan brought the cup up to his lips and as he took a sip his lips turned into a grin. Jesper smiled at his reaction. “I told you this would make you feel better.”

After sipping some more of the drink Wylan placed the mug down on the table, “You have to retake chemistry?” he asked, “That’s why you suddenly joined our class?”

Jesper frowned and Wylan hurried to apologize. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to prod. You don’t have to answer that, it was rude of me.”

“No, no it’s okay.” Jesper received his second cup of hot chocolate and warmed his hands on the mug. “Yeah, I failed chemistry. And apparently, it’s like important or something and Ms. Johnson said she was being nice letting me retake it, which I can’t say I agree on because now I have to spend Friday afternoons writing lab reports instead of sitting here eating waffles with my friends.”

“I’m sorry.” God, this boy never stopped apologizing, did he?

“It’s not like it’s your fault, and besides,” Jesper took a clunk from his drink, “my lab partner might actually get me a good grade.”

Wylan broke eye contact for a second and glanced down into his cup before looking sincerely at Jesper. “I’ll do my best.”

“Cheers to chemistry.” Jesper raised his glass and Wylan did the same.

“Cheers.”

Joe appeared with the waffles and both boys dug in as the conversation stilled for a moment. The moment didn’t last long though as Jesper reached forward to Wylan’s plate and attempted to steal a piece of his food.

“Hey!” Wylan’s hand slapped down on Jesper’s which resulted in his fork dropping to the table.

“Ow! What’d you do that for?” 

“It’s my waffle!”

Jesper let his hand retreat. “Can I at least have my fork back?”

“Fine.” Wylan grabbed the fork and offered it over the table to Jesper.

Jesper reached out to grab the fork and his fingers happened to brush slowly against Wylan’s who dropped it. The fork fell to the table and clattered to the floor as the merchling turned red, as seemed to be in his nature.

“Sorry,” Wylan quickly said.

“It’s fine,” Jesper assured him before he scooted out of his seat and crouched on the floor to pick it up. As he reached for the fork however, his fingers once more collided with Wylan’s and he looked up only to stare right into eyes blue as the ocean. “Sorry,” Jesper got out without breaking contact with the other boy. He kept staring into the blue eyes, ignoring a stray hair that fell into his eyes.

Wylan shifted his body and Jesper, thinking he would stand up and break the moment, soaked up all the blue that he could from those eyes. Instead, the boy’s hand moved forward and brushed Jesper’s stray lock back, all without touching his face. Chocked by Wylan’s movement and finding himself to be disappointed by the lack of skin on skin contact, Jesper leaned forward slightly, testing the waters and the other boy… fell?

“Shit.” Jesper hurried towards Wylan to help him up. “I’m sorry,” he said offering a hand.

Wylan took it, beet-red in the face, and Jesper tried to forget about the contact that they were making. _ You’ve just made him fall over _ , he mentally reprimanded himself, _ you don’t have to cause him any more embarrassment _.

“Thank you.”

Jesper picked up his fork from the floor and went to get another one and when the two had finished their waffles Jesper paid before heading to join Wylan at the door.

“This was fun.” Jesper held open the door and they walked out into the fresh air. “We should do it again sometime.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Jesper played with his keys in his pocket. “See you Tuesday?”

“Yeah.”

Jesper waved to the other boy as he started walking away. “Do something fun this weekend, _ merchling _.”

The other boy mumbled something, but Jesper couldn’t hear, he was too far away and stuck in his own thoughts. He had to get rid of this feeling, this nervousness. Changing his direction, he started heading for Kaz’s place instead of his own. Tonight, he would forget.


End file.
